APA Citations 101

Basic Rules
1.

Authors' names are inverted (last name first); give the last name and initials for all authors of a
particular work unless the work has more than six authors. If the work has more than six authors,
list the first six authors and then use et al. after the sixth author's name to indicate the rest of the
authors.

2.

Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the last name of the first author of each work.

3.

If you have more than one article by the same author, single-author references or multiple-author
references with the exact same authors in the exact same order are listed in order by the year of
publication, starting with the earliest.

4.

When referring to any work that is NOT a journal, such as a book, article, or Web page, capitalize
only the first letter of the first word of a title and subtitle, the first word after a colon or a dash in the
title, and proper nouns. Do not capitalize the first letter of the second word in a hyphenated
compound word.

5.

Capitalize all major words in journal titles.

6.

Italicize titles of longer works such as books and journals.

7.

Do not italicize, underline, or put quotes around the titles of shorter works such as journal articles
or essays in edited collections.

Books
Elements of a reference to an entire book
Authors or editors, (Date of publication). Book title. (book edition) Publication information
Examples of references to entire books
Beck, C. A. J., & Sales. B. D. (2001). Family mediation: Facts, myths, and future prospects (3rd ed.).
Washington, DC: American Psychological Association

Book, no author or editor

Book title (Alphabetize books with no author or editor by the first significant word in the title),
(Publication date), Publication information.
Merriam-Websters collegiate dictionary (10th ed.). (1993). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster.
Hint: In text, you should use a few words of the title, or the whole title if it is short, in place of an author
name in the citation: (Merriam-Websters Collegiate, 1993).

Elements of a reference to an article or chapter in an edited book

Author (Publication date). Article or chapter title. Book editors. Book title. (Article page number).
Publication information
Example:
Massaro, D. (1992). Broadening the domain of the fuzzy logical model of perception. In H. L. Pick, P.
van den Broek, & D. C. Knill (Eds.) Cognition: Conceptual and methodological issues (pp. 51-84).
Washington, DC: American Psychological Association

Brochure, corporate author

Authors. (Publication date). Title. (edition) [Brochure]. Publication information: Author
Research and Training Center on Independent Living. (1993). Guidelines for reporting and writing about
people with disabilities (4th ed.) [Brochure]. Lawrence, KS: Author.

Brochure, no author
Brochure title (Alphabetize books with no author or editor by the first significant word in the title),
(Publication date), Publication information
Teaching effective parenting styles (2004) [Brochure]. New York, MA: Person Inc.
Hint: Format references to brochures in the same way as those to entire books. In brackets, identify the
publication as a brochure.

Report from a university

Author. (Date). Report title, University, Name of department or organization that produce the report
Example:
Broadhurst, R. G., & Maller, R. A. (1991) Sex offending and recidivism (Tech. Rep. No.3). Nedlands,
Western Australis: University of Western Australia, Crime Research Centre.
Hint: If the name of the state, province, or country is included in the name of the university, do not repeat
the state, province, or country in the publisher location.
Report from a private organization
Name of organization. (published date). Article title. Publishing information: Author
Example:
Employee Benefit Research Institute. (1992, February). Sources of health insurance and characteristics
of the uninsured (Issue Brief No. 123). Washington, DC: Author.

Web-based article
Author (Posting date). Article title. Retrieved date, from website name: URL.
Example:
Lynch, T. (1996). DS9 trials and tribble-ations review. Retrieved October 8, 1997, from Psi Phi:
Bradley's Science Fiction Club Website:
http://www.bradley.edu/campusorg/psiphi/DS9/ep/503r.html.
If you cannot find a date for the article, use (nd). for no date.

Citing a complete website

Name of the website sponsor or creator. Name of the website. Website: URL
iVillage Total Health Network. Pregnancy and parenting for todays momiVillage.
http://parenting.ivillage.com/.

Article in an Internet-only newsletter

Authors, (Posting Date). Article title. Newsletter title, Volume(Number_) Retrieved date, from URL.
Example:
Gluekauf, R. K., Whitton, J. Baxter, & Hudon, M. (1998, July). Video counseling for families of rural
teens with epilepsy Project update. Telehealth News, 2(2). Retrieved June 6, 2000, from
http://www.telehealth.net/newsletter_4a.htm#1
Hint: Use the complete publication date on the article. There are no page numbers needed. Volume and
issue numbers can be omitted if they are not available for your article. URL should link directly to
the article.

Report from an organization, available on organization website

Name of organization (Posting date). Report Title. Retrieved date, from URL.
Example:
Canarie, Inc. (1997, September 27). Towards a Canadian health IWAY: Vision, opportunities and future
steps. Retrieved November 8, 2000, from
http://www.canarie.ca/press/publications/pdf/health/healthvision.doc.